Itsy Blitzy Review – The most casual game ever

I’ve always been a fan of bullet hell games, and I’m not bragging or anything but I think I’m pretty decent at them. Well, I thought so, until Minty Soul Games’ Itsy Blitzy decided to drag my feet to the ground and break the illusion.

Bullet HELL

Itsy Blitzy is a fast-paced bullet hell with four core mechanics: Melee attack, stun gun, dash, and blitz (which is a dashing attack). In the campaign mode of the game, there are 30 levels. The concept is very simple: Kill everything that moves. Every level presents new enemies and/or a new boss that can appear in other levels, so you’ll need to memorize as many patterns and health bars as possible. Speaking of health, your character can only withstand three hits, which is why you need to move and dash efficiently across the map to avoid bullets and map hazards.

Else, you can be a nasty, quick killer like myself and try to kill enemies as soon as they spawn while stunning farther threats with your gun. I prefer this way because I like to benefit from the multiplier feature, which allows more damage per hit the more enemies you kill. This feature also allows for better scores at the end of levels; scores determine how many stars you get as reward for finishing a stage. The thing I hate about the system is that it’s not-at-all rewarding. Stars serve nothing (except unlocking stuff in the Extras page) despite how hard they can be to get.

If you’re feeling like setting a world record or something, there’s always Infinite mode waiting for you. As the name suggests, it’s an endless wave-spawn of enemies until you die. There’s a variety of sub-modes as well, like vanilla, lasers only, bullets only, back and forth, and more! Make sure to keep a tissue aside, you’ll need it to wipe the tears of your rage.

RIP

Itsy Blitzy has a very simplistic 3D art-style that is very cute, and suits the fast-paced nature of the game. Bullet and hit particles are very clear, and there is a representation of level progress and current blade damage at the bottom of the screen that helps you know what’s going on. Enemy designs are very clever as well; every enemy is unique and helps with visual memory thanks to their color and shape. Although, I wish there were actual HP bars for every entity so that you can keep up with when an enemy is about to die, or when you need to start playing carefully. The only thing that helps is the grey color that coats enemies when they are stunned.

The calm before the storm

Final Thoughts

In its core, Itsy Blitzy isn’t that bad. It’s difficult, it’s challenging, and it’s fun. However, it feels like it is still missing a thing or two. For instance, the soundtrack is a little boring, and there’s no actual reward system. Games in this genre should be addictive and catchy, but I didn’t find those qualities.